RWBY: Black Chronicle
by RejectedKnight34
Summary: Twenty-six years ago, a catastrophe shook the face of Vale. This disaster threatened every man, woman, and child in the kingdom. Though the world forgot the events, what happened affected a great many people and left its scar on the world. This is the story of a love so strong and a betrayal so deep, it brought kingdoms to their knees. This is the Black Chronicle.
1. Fateful Meeting

_Author's Note: So, while I build suspense for the next chapter of Sunshine and Shadows (and it WILL be amazing, trust me), I've decided to go ahead and greenlight myself for a prequel series. I hope to alternate chapters, releasing a chapter of Black Chronicle and a chapter of Sunshine and Shadows at least once a week, each. That said, some background info:_

_This story takes place twenty years ago and focuses on Team BLCK. Flynn Cole, Azura Lapis, Kryo Corona, and Black Taurus. This team of gifted people would set in motion events that would change the world. This story is essential for understanding the upcoming chapters of Sunshing and Shadows._

_Anyway! I hope you enjoy the new story, as I am very much looking forward to writing it!_

* * *

Twenty years ago, a catastrophe shook the face of Vale. This disaster threatened every man, woman, and child in the kingdom, and even the world. Though the world forgot the events, what happened affected a great many people and left its scar on the world.

This is the story of a love so strong and a betrayal so deep, it brought kingdoms to their knees. This is the Black Chronicle.

* * *

Cole lay beneath the tree, gentle shade lulling him towards a quiet afternoon nap. A sudden commotion and yelling voices disturbed the breezy summer day. Cole sighed and rolled over onto his side—only to be hit in the face with an apple. Cole clutched his nose and picked up the offending fruit. Grimacing and glancing around, he saw the perpetrator.

A young, dark-skinned boy with pitch black hair and deep red ram's horns ran through the street, laughing. His ragged shirt was stuffed full of fruit and bread, obviously stolen from the street vendors. His bare feet pattered down the cobblestone road and several security droids gave chase, their blocky movement just slow enough that the young Faunus could keep his lead.

Cole sighed and stood. His brown trench coat fell into place around his long legs. He shoved his hands into his pockets and leapt out of the shade of the tree towards the Faunus, landing in front of him. The Faunus skidded to a halt and food flew everywhere as he nearly avoided crashing into the new obstacle.

"Gah, I almost got away." The young man glowered at Cole and grabbed at some of the food on the street. Cole bent over and grabbed the young man's shirt collar and hoisted him to his feet.

"Is this yours?" he asked, holding the apple up for the criminal's inspection.

"Why yes, yes it is." The boy's voice was silky and smooth and Cole almost believed him for a moment before he snapped out of it. The boy had brought the apple to his lips and was in the process of taking a bite.

Cole rolled his eyes and let go of the Faunus. "What's your name, kid?"

"Black." The young man muttered around chunks of fruit. He quickly swallowed. "Black. Black Taurus is my name, stealing's the game."

"Not many would openly admit to being a thief."

"Not many can get away with it as easily as I can." Black retorted.

Cole rolled his eyes and sighed once more. The security droids had caught up and in monotone voices asked Cole to hand over the Faunus. Cole hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and handing the kid over.

"Hey kid."

Black looked up between long locks of black hair. "Yeah?"

"Stay out of trouble from now on."

Black just grinned and took another bite of the apple as the security droids hauled him away.

Cole just shook his head, shoved his hands back in his pockets and started walking back to Elysium Academy. As his black boots clacked along the road, he lost himself in thought. Tomorrow was graduation. If he passed the combat trials, he could apply to Beacon Academy, the most prestigious Hunter School in Vale. He sighed. It had always been his dream to study at Beacon. Ever since he'd constructed his weapon at Elysium he'd wanted to fight monsters.

The recent Faunus war had taken away his only family and being a Hunter seemed as good a thing to do with his life as any.

As he walked, he noticed a small figure flitting from lamp post to lamp post, trying to keep out of sight.

Cole, for the umpteenth time that day, rolled his eyes and turned around. The young girl nearly crashed into him before flitting away behind the closest post.

"Azura, I can see you."

"No you can't." A soft and silky voice replied. "Also, I don't know who this Azura is. She sounds awesome though."

"Azura Lapis, come out now."

"Stop talking to a lamp post, crazy. That's how rumors get started."

Cole huffed and walked away. "Have it your way. See you back at Elysium."

"WAIT!"

Cole barely had time to turn around before the blue-haired Azura crashed into him, hugging him around the waist. They landed on the sidewalk, a tangled mess of arms and legs. Cole tried to speak but his voice was muffled by two very awkward mounds shoved in his face. "Azmfuh gef off fuff meh."

Azura's eyes widened and she sat up, straddling Cole. "Oh. Um. Sorry…Cole." She blushed deeply and Cole closed his eyes desperately trying not to think about the younger girl's…endowment. Despite being sixteen, she was already bigger than most of the girls in their grade. A fact she was very aware of. A fact that had been painfully and embarrassingly reminded to Cole nearly every day as the klutz crashed into him at almost every meeting.

"Azura, you're gonna suffocate me one of these days." He looked up into big blue apologetic eyes. She puffed her lip out and put her arms together, pushing her breasts up higher, the soft material of her tank top allowing for a very enticing view.

"I'm sorry, Cole. What can I do to make it up to you?"

Cole tried, he really did, not to smile, but she was too cute and he sat up and kissed her softly. She melted into his embrace for a moment before resuming her giddy antics. She stood and offered her hand to Cole. He reached up, his fingerless gloves clasping her soft skin. She blushed again and brushed a lock of blue hair behind her ear.

Cole brushed his knuckles across her cheek and she took his hand in hers. For a moment, he thought he might get another kiss, but she just wrapped her arms around his and grinned.

Around her, Cole couldn't help but smile, even when she was being a pain. They'd been friends since childhood. Her mother let Cole stay at their place after his father had died. The constant close proximity had first brewed hatred, but Azura's mother, ever the matchmaker, got them to get along, and even like each other. When she'd found out that they had started dating, she just smiled and said, 'About time.'

Cole led the way back to Elysium, the blue haired girl hanging onto him every step of the way.

From a few yards away, green eyes watched as they made their way back. Behind them, the crunch of an apple and a smile.


	2. Graduation Day

Graduation day arrived and Cole fitted his gear quietly in the wee hours of the morning. Black cargo pants tucked into shin-high black combat boots, a brown long-sleeved t-shirt, his signature brown trench coat, black fingerless gloves, and his bandoleer. His room was small and cluttered with blueprints, weapon parts, prototypes, and scrap metal. The one clear area was around the workbench, which was immaculate. Every tool had a place and every part was kept in order.

Sitting at the center of the table was Cole's weapon, a giant claymore sword, four feet long and five inches wide. The hilt was wrapped in black leather, with a simple bronze pommel in the shape of a teardrop. The cross-guard was crescent shaped, each end sharpened into a fine point. The blade was unique in the fact that at the very center, at the bottommost part of the blade, was a prototype contraption for loading different types of dust. The cylindrical tube was nearly three inches in diameter and about six inches long. It was bulky, but the blade balanced itself out and with enough practice, Cole could swing it just the same as any other sword.

No one had ever thought to utilize Dust like this before. It wasn't uncommon to smith your weapons using certain Dust for different effects. Cole had seen lightning swords and ice muskets. He'd seen a mace with a Burn Crystal placed on the tip that exploded on impact. However, a Dust loading mechanism? First of its kind, and Cole was quite proud of that. It held four different types of dust and Cole favored Earth, Nature, Fire, and Lightning. He had dubbed the weapon _Caliburnus_.

Cole stood over the weapon and wiped the blade down one final time. _Alright. Time to see what lies ahead._

Just as he finished his thought, a soft rapping came from the door. He tiptoed carefully around the metal parts and pieces and finally arrived at the door, free of injury. He opened the door and was immediately smothered by Azura. "Today's the day!" she squealed into his ear.

Cole grunted and pushed Azura away, picking at his ear with his pinky. "Ow. Do you mind keeping it down? Bad enough that I'm losing my hearing naturally. I don't need you speeding up the process."

The young girl frowned and pouted. "Aw. I'm sowwie, Cole. Would a kiss make it all better?" She puffed her lips out and closed her eyes. Cole shoved his gloved hand in her face and she licked his fingers defiantly, causing him to just role his eyes and step out into the hallway. Making sure Caliburnus was securely fastened to his back, he shut his door and made his way towards the front door.

"Good luck!" called Azura's mother from the kitchen.

"Yeah, don't die!" cried one of the twins, either Ao or Azrak, one of the two.

"But if you do, I get your stuff!" cried the other.

"Shut up!" Azura screeched at them before rolling her eyes. The twins were only eight and got into all kinds of mischief. They made a personal point to use their gift of hyper-intelligence to make Azura's life a living hell.

Cole found them to be quite hilarious.

The pair shut the door firmly behind them, clasped hands, and began walking towards Elysium Academy.

Halfway there, a silky voice called out to them. "Hello, there."

Cole froze and turned around slowly. "Black."

The young Faunus was dressed in the same ragged black outfit from yesterday and he held yet another apple in his hand. Cole frowned. "What happened? I saw you get hauled away by the drones."

Black smiled and took a bite of his fruit before shrugging and grinning, bits of apple stuck to his teeth. "I…_persuaded_ them to let me go."

"Oh, Dust, Black… You didn't destroy them, did you?" Cole ran a hand over his face and sighed.

"Oh nothing of the sort. I am an upstanding citizen." Black grinned and walked over to Azura, offering his hand to her. She went to shake it but Black swooped down and kissed her knuckles instead. Cole tightened his hand into a fist but then relaxed.

"Well, it was good seeing you again, Black, but we gotta run. Graduation starts in an hour and I don't want to be late."

"Take me with you," Black said.

"Uh, what now?" Azura inquired.

"Black, we can't just take you. You don't go to Elysium, so you can't graduate. Besides, it's a closed ceremony. Only students and the headmasters of Hunter Schools can attend."

"Trust me. They'll let me in." Black grinned and Cole gave in and shrugged.

"Fine, but don't blame me when they won't let you in."

* * *

Thirty minutes later and two very dazed teachers later, Black, Cole, and Azura stood in line with fifty other students along the wall of the large gymnasium. The headmaster of Elysium was droning on in a nasally voice about the future of Vale and the importance of blah blah blah. Cole wasn't paying attention. He was too busy running his hands discretely over Azura's kamas, making sure that the weapons were sharp and functioning correctly.

He carefully examined the spring mechanisms, careful to avoid triggering the transformation during the short, bald man's speech. As soon as he stepped down from the podium, a grey-haired man dressed in black and green took the stand. He cleared his throat. "Hello, everyone. My name is Ozpin, professor and headmaster at Beacon Academy. Today, with Headmaster Goldenrod's permission, I've set up things a bit differently. Normally, you would perform your graduation ceremony and then apply at one of the seven Hunter Schools, each would require a rigorous test to get in. Today, we've decided to combine the two. This graduation ceremony is not only your last day at Elysium, but your first day as a Hunter-in-training. Keep that in mind while taking your test. Good luck."

Cole shot Azura a look and she shrugged before squeezing his hand. Beside him, Black cracked a creepy grin and popped his neck from side to side. Headmaster Goldenrod then began to call out names. "Ann Caberra, please step forward." A young black-haired girl dressed in a black plaid shirt and dark blue jeans grinned and stepped forward, lofting a heavy-looking boombox on her shoulder.

"C'mon, Sotrex, let's rock this party!" She sprinted forward and Cole raised an eyebrow.

"Energetic." Azura stifled a giggle and she grabbed his hand in hers.

The names seemed to be randomly drawn and in no particular order, which Cole only figured at when Azura Lapis was called ahead of him. Azura pressed herself against the tall boy and Cole wrapped his arms around her. "You'll do great, babe. Promise. I fine-tuned Harbinger Azul for you myself." She nodded and hugged him once before disappearing behind the curtain that ran the length of the gym. Woven from Void Dust fibers, the curtain blocked all sight and sound from the other side of the room.

After another fifteen minutes, Cole heard his own name called. He stiffened but a soft pat on his shoulder drew his attention to Black, who stood there grinning. "You'll do fine, man. Don't worry so much." Inexplicably, Cole seemed to calm down and fill with confidence. He smiled at Black and clasped his shoulder.

"Thanks, Black." Cole grinned and ran off to the test that awaited him.

* * *

_Author's Note: Wow, I actually posted a chapter of this? Shocking. I know. I just wasn't feeling S/S or ITM tonight, but I wanted to publish SOMETHING. I hope to start updating this more frequently._

_Trivia: The entire Lapis family is named for the color Blue. Azura is a misspelling of Azurra, Italian for a light sky blue. Ao is Japanese for blue and Azrak is the romanized form of the Arabic term for blue. Her father's name is Bleu (French) and her mother is Celeste (Spanish for Light blue). Azura's mother and father met quite by accident, both having a shade of blue hair, and after finding their similar names to be quite amusing, hooked up and have been inseparable ever since._

_If you're having trouble imagining their voices, I've come up with a handy way to tell you what they sound like._

_Azura: Cherami Leigh (Specifically, Lucy from Fairy Tail)_

_Cole: Johnny Young Bosch (Ichigo from Bleach)_

_Black: Todd Haberkorn (I'd specify a specific character, but all of Todd's voices sound the same. But I guess character-wise, Masao from Shiki)_

_Celeste Lapis: Julie Walters (Molly Weasely, Harry Potter)_

_The Twins: Shaun Fleming (Jim and Tim Possible, Kim Possible)_

_Kryo Corona: Leah Clarke (Mavis Vermillion, Fairy Tail)_

_Let's see, is there anything else? Hmmm... Can't think of anything, so nope! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!_


End file.
